Energy Pathways for the California Economy

June 10, 2009

Looking at a future of rising energy demands, dwindling traditional supplies and greater volatility in fuel pricing, a new report by economist David Roland-Holst finds that a new energy agenda in California would create both short and long term growth. The new agenda should emphasize efficiency, renewables, and infrastructure.

The report finds that “a dollar spent on traditional energy is a dollar earned by 10-100 times as many new workers.” New job creation would occur both directly with “green collar” jobs as well as up and downstream. Most of these jobs would also have in-state job retention since jobs in the services bedrock of the state’s labor force cannot be outsourced.

The report looks at five different forecasting scenarios, and in each one, employment creation outweighs employment reduction. The report finds that the faster California deploys renewable energy resources, the faster the economy will grow and create jobs. The most ambitious of the scenarios is forecast to produce the most new jobs and income (for example, it suggests that aiming for 50 percent renewable energy sources along with 1.5 percent annual increases in efficiency would generate half a million new jobs with over $100 billion in cumulative payrolls over 40 years).